Pushed hard to make Brutus by twenty minutes; made him by twenty-five. Unfortunately, all that running left me in the Ship Graveyard at level 7, and the Coast at level 8 (where one gets roughly 58% experience)... which meant I was still struggling to get experience for a couple of levels.

Still, I did get move speed boots right at the outset, so that helped. Also got a nice rare hatchet which carried me until I was finally able to wield a rare longsword.

Still only got level 13, though. Frustrating; I seem to have hit a wall, racing-wise. Not entirely sure what I'm doing wrong, but I suppose I'll figure it out eventually.